Doctor Phan Trong Lan, director of the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, calls for stricter screening of international arrivals to prevent Ebola from spreading to Vietnam during a teleconference held last Friday. Photo: Minh Hung

RELATED NEWS

Despite the fact that none of Vietnam's 83 arrivals from Ebola-infected areas tested positive for the virus since the outbreak began, doctors have called for stricter preventive measures.

Meanwhile, two Nigerian men that arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on August 19 with fevers remain quarantined at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the hospital’s director Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, the men will be held for 21 days of monitoring.

The Ebola virus causes a hemorrhagic fever that has killed more than 1,350 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since the outbreak began in March.

The virus is spread through direct contact of bodily fluids. A person exposed to the virus can take up to 21 days to exhibit symptoms.

During a teleconference last Friday with the Ministry of Health, doctors called for better coordination between relevant agencies and funding for quarantines.

“Some passengers [arriving from West Africa] passed through three afflicted African countries before coming to Vietnam," said Phan Trong Lan, director of the Pasteur Institute in HCMC. "Health authorities should step up preventive measures to avoid an outbreak in Vietnam.”

According to Lan, 75 percent of the 83 people arrivals were foreigners, mostly Nigerians. Only the two aforementioned men have been quarantined so far; the rest have only filled out health declaration forms.

Between three and four flights from Africa and 70-80 flights that transit in Africa land at Tan Son Nhat airport every day, which increases the risk of an Ebola outbreak, he said.

“There should be more equipment and training for relevant task forces to prevent an outbreak,” he said.